It feels like everyone had babies in 2017. Although in reality it's only three and only if you count the beginning of this year as 2017. Which isn't that much of a surprise in some ways, because I went to a lot of weddings a few years ago (where four counts as a lot). But it's had a terrible effect on my social life.

When I went to the tennis or to see comedians, I used to go with my sister. Which was fine until the end of 2016 when we saw Adam Hills. And then she very selfishly had a baby this year (who I plan to use to go to things that would be odd to go to without a child when he's old enough, but that's not going to be for a few years yet). Between that and other babies and illness (and weather) I haven't been to any tennis, the only time I went to the theatre was to Harry Potter, which I booked in mid-2016, and the only comedian I saw was Ellie Taylor, when the local theatre emailed that week to say she was on. Amusingly, her set was all about how she was in her 30s and everyone was having babies...

But this year is going to be different. I've decided that if I want to go to something I will just book it and go. Then it doesn't matter what anyone else is doing. So I am already going to see Lucy Porter and Dara O'Briain in the spring.

I hate Christmas. I hated it more when I was a child because I got two weeks off from school and the only difference between Christmas Day and every other day was that everything was closed, everyone else was too busy eating turkey and arguing with their family, and there was nothing on TV. These days it's different because Christmas means two bank holidays. And I like that that they mean not having to see anyone. There's still nothing open, but these days it's when all the TV is on.

I was starting to think I was in a minority about this because there are other people at work who aren't Christian and still do Christmas. And on The Last Leg they went all Christmassy on 1st December, and it turned out both their guests were Jewish. But both of them did something Christmassy or at least didn't hate it.

It's not the actual day I hate any more, it's the lead up to it. It's not being able to go into a shop without having to listen to Christmas music that I've heard a hundred times already. Or listen to the radio without the same problem. And people who ask what I'm eating for Christmas dinner. They might as well ask what I'm eating for dinner a week next Tuesday for all the sense that makes. Or worse, ask if I'm ready for Christmas. I don't know what that means. (I'm always ready for Christmas to be over).

I don't mind people asking what I'm doing for Christmas, because it's the same as asking what I'm doing for any bank holiday or weekend. Although I keep my answers vague because they're not actually interested in the specifics.

And there are some Christmassy things I do like. Like mince pies and Christmas pudding (as long as there's no brandy butter - that stuff is disgusting). And Christmas trees (I especially like that you can get them in colours other than green), and tinsel. I have no interest in baubles, they're not as pretty as tinsel. Or fairy lights that flash. I like the white lights on people's houses that hang down. And the really OTT people you can laugh at on the way past.

So there are good things about Christmas, I just wish it wasn't so in your face, with an assumption that everyone does Christmas. (Besides, passover is much better, which is why it's the only Jewish festival I still do every year, even when it's not at Easter)

For me, this is an appropriately timed post: since yesterday was the last working day before Christmas, therefore yesterday was Christmas Eve and today was Christmas Day.

The week before last was really busy at work. My evenings felt long because most of the things I do in the evening had finished for the year, and I didn't have to play with Missy. So I got a lot of TV watching done.

This week work is quieter, but I've either been woken up really early or not been able to get to sleep or woke up early for no reason, or some combination of the above, so I've been really tired. And watched a load more TV.

I am doing better. Although my lounge still looks big and empty with the spaces where Missy's cage and toys were. And my evenings seem so long now they've not interrupted.

I decided I didn't need to do anything unless I had to. So possibly the most productive thing I've done is to watch all of season 3 of Dark Matter, which I'd had sitting around for months. Handily, I'd done all my Christmas shopping and sent my Yuletide fic off to beta.

I also listened to a lot of podcasts at work and while I was doing things around the house. I seemed to be permanently 10 episodes behind on Confessions, but now not only am I caught up but I'm working my way through episodes of The Curious Cases of Rutherford and Fry from before I started listening. Although the one about itching made me itch all the way through...

I went to Harry Potter and the Cursed Child on Wednesday. It was well-timed really, as I wouldn't have really been up for it the week before, and before Missy died I was worrying about leaving her all evening (as I didn't get home until midnight). I was excited about it when I booked it a year and a half ago, and I bought the book. And then I found the book disappointing. However, seeing the play is a lot better than reading the script. I thought the kid who played Scorpius was particularly good at getting the laughs, and the actor who played Ron looked most like the film actor (although I was quite a long way away from the stage).

What was also good about going was that there were quite a few people there on their own or not sitting with the people they'd come with (due to the difficulty of getting tickets) and I learnt all about returns. So if anyone wants to go it's well worth rocking up on the day because chances are you'll get a ticket.

The part of the programme I read first was the actors and what they'd been in in case I recognised any. I was literally reading the TV and film bit and not taking any notice of the actor's names when I noticed one had been in An Adventure in Space and Time. It turned out that Jamie Glover was Harry Potter. It did distract me a bit, thinking about how good an Ian Chesterton he'd be on audio. I eventually concluded he'd probably be quite good. Given that I've already bought the First Doctor audio Big Finish are doing with The Adventure in Space and Time cast, that's just as well.

And in the chorus scenes I was distracted trying to spot Ged Simmons (DI Cullen) in The Bill. I think I did, but then I also noticed he'd been in Outnumbered, and I don't remember him in that at all.

And I wasn't the only person there with a scarf from the first two films (before they changed the uniform). But all the staff had the new uniform ties and scarves.

A while ago I changed all the lamp shades in the house. This is because everything was non-coloured (ie beige) and I wanted to add some colour. The bathroom had a beige that was pointed at the bottom and then tapered out, so as to collect the maximum amount of dust. At least I assume that's the only possible reason for having one of those. I climbed up on the bath, had a look at it, established there was so much dust that it looked like there was a normal bulb under it. And then decided I wasn't going near all that dust.

Thursday morning I turned the bathroom light on and it flickered. I thought "maybe if I turn it off, when I turn it on it'll have got over it and the bulb won't have gone." Unsurprisingly that didn't happen. Although it didn't trip the switch, which was something. It was dark at the time and there was not enough ambient light coming in from the landing.

But it was fine, I had a solution. I got the spare desk lamp from the spare room, took it out of the box and then there was plastic all over the floor. It turns out it didn't like being folded up in a box and the plastic covering the bendy bit had fallen off and fallen apart.

After I picked that all up I plugged it in to the plug socket handily just outside the bathroom door. I then had mood lighting in the bathroom. You really don't need mood lighting for going to the toilet.

Although it got light before I left for work, I didn't try changing the bulb. Because I'd woken up an hour and a quarter before my alarm went off, and I'd been going to bed late due to Missy playing late, I was tired and therefore dizzy. I can't climb ladders when dizzy. So I left it until I got home - except I left late and it was cloudy and it was surprisingly dark in the bathroom when I got home. Friday was no better, but I thought it was ok, I could last until the weekend.

Saturday morning I went for a flu jab. Which doesn't hurt going in, but afterwards it feels like someone's punched you in the arm. It hurts to touch it and it hurts to raise your arm. Which was perfect for changing light bulbs.

The lamp shade just required me to unscrew the pointy bit. I say just, but it took a good five minutes. So I was glad I didn't try that before or after work when I didn't have much time/light. There was about an inch thick of dust on the lamp shade, and some dead things. The bulb was so dusty it was a job to find its wattage (60W).

I went to my drawer of light bulbs, intending to stick something in temporarily. At which point I found that I have a lot of 100W bulbs (most of which I got free). I did manage to find a 60W bulb. I put that in and turned the light on and my bathroom is now so incredibly bright. All of a sudden it doesn't look dull and colourless, it looks bright and clean.

The saga doesn't end, of course. It has what looks like a normal light fitting, albeit much closer to the ceiling than in other rooms. I thought it would be easy to find something to go over it. But all the bathroom light shades seem to fit to the wall. I think I will be taking a photo of it to B&Q/Homebase to see if they have anything, and inevitably ending up buying something that I'll need to pay an electrician to fit.

I am sorting out avoiding Star Trek Discovery spoilers at the moment. This is because it's only on Netflix and I plan to only have Netflix for the one free month. So I need to start late in order to get all the episodes into one month. I am only having Netflix for one month because I don't like Netflix because:

It refuses to tell you what's on there until you sign up - what if you signed up and then found there was nothing you wanted to watch? You've then wasted your free month.

Everyone has it.

I've also got annoyed with the amount of Discovery stuff I've been seeing on Twitter and RSS, not that I've been reading it. It makes me feel like everyone is going to watch it, which makes me not want to.

I had the same thing earlier with Strictly, when I saw a stat for how many people watched it two weeks ago. I made me feel like if all those people were watching it, I don't want to be one of them.

It's one of the reasons why I can't stand Converse shoes and you couldn't pay me to wear them. I dislike the way they look anyway, and I wouldn't wear branded clothes or shoes (except DMs if they were cheaper and I wore skirts). But everyone wearing them just makes them that little bit worse.

It's not everything. I wear jeans, I watch Doctor Who, I love Wimbledon. I don't know what the difference is. It's not just coming late to the party - I read A Long Way to a Small Angry Planet and only after that did it seem like everyone was reading/had read it. At which point I wished I hadn't, even though I liked it. It's very irrational. But at least it gives me plenty of thing to try for I've Never Seen Star Wars.

I thought this week I'd get more done than I have. Especially as more things start back after summer next week and I won't be as quiet again until half term. And then it was just a ridiculous week at work. On paper it wasn't busy, but there was just shit going down all over the place and I spent the week cleaning it up. I got to the point on Friday where I couldn't see properly looking at the screen.

Today, though, was a day off, so I cleaned the house, watched people running about in Newcastle and am watching live scores at the US Open (I'm interested in Jamie Murray and Martina Hingis winning the mixed doubles, and Alfie Hewett vs Gordon Reid, but the BBC and Eurosport aren't).

Tomorrow there are more people running about in Newcastle, followed by some more work. I was thinking this would be a quiet weekend, with the US Open finals being on so late, so I'd watch the latest series of Game of Thrones. But it turns out there was other sport, so it will have to wait.

I did, though, think about my Yuletide nominations. I had a not-very short list of 11 fandoms. I narrowed it down by thinking about what I really wanted for them and ended up with The Last Leg, Taskmaster and 40-Love. The latter was at the bottom of the short list because I got it last year but a) you can't have too much of a good thing and b) the US Open is currently on, so I'm feeling all tennisy.

SJA was just pipped at the post when I realised I'm mostly interested in Gita, thanks to Mina Anwar at the SJA Reunion. Which isn't a bad thing, but I went for fandoms where I'd be happy to write any of the characters. Everything else was mostly just there on a whim. And a couple of them where Twitter things that I found I only liked in small doses. 1000 words is a lot more than 140...

I've been meaning to post all week and keep getting distracted by other things. Sadly not sport (mostly). Although the US Open tennis starts this afternoon.

I had a busy week and a half - I pretty much did all my summer socialising in that time. Most of it was Rock Choir, who did some summer workshops. It was fun to be doing some singing when usually everything stops for the summer. There were a lot fewer people than during term time, but it didn't feel like it when we were singing. I wondered why until the ceiling was pointed out. The room we rehearse in has really good acoustics. I will miss that about Rock Choir - the hall my other choir rehearses in is terrible for sound.

I discovered I'll be watching (some of) Strictly this year. I meant to watch when Judy Murray was on, but never quite got round to it. People have told me I'd like the dances, but the camera constantly moving around is so distracting that I can't concentrate on the dancing. And it makes me dizzy. But then I found all of Judy Murray's dances on YouTube and watched them on my iPod and using such a small screen was such an improvement. (I really should try watching Class on there) I did enjoy the dances - I like how they got tennis in it and other stories. I don't know why people thought she was terrible because they seemed fine to me - although I don't have anything to compare it with.

Although I will this autumn. Susan Calman announced on Twitter she was on it. It sounds like she'll be a laugh. And Jonnie Peacock is on as well. And what with them on Twitter (mostly Susan Calman) I've ended up following Rev Richard Coles (after a brief moment of wondering if it's wrong to follow a vicar on Twitter if you're not Christan). Although he tweets quite a lot and I started following him at the same time as the US Open draw and Andy Murray withdrawal and that end of TweetDeck got a bit crazy.

What I've seen most of, Strictly-wise, is the back stage stuff. When I was lodging my landlady would be watching It Takes Two while I was cooking dinner and watching rehearsals was much more interesting than watching the final dances. I will probably tell my PVR to tape it all and then sift through it sometime.

Otherwise I have been getting some jobs done. I now have new curtains in all the rooms (blinds for the kitchen and bathroom are next). Although in order to get something I liked for the lounge and would keep the heat in in the winter and heat out in the summer, I ended up with black out curtains. Since the lounge is south facing and it is hot and sunny out today I'm therefore sitting in quite a dark room. Although it is getting lighter, the closer the sun gets to shining directly at it.

After owning my new computer for three and a half months I finally got tired of turning the old one on to print and decided to install it on my new one. And then I discovered it doesn't work on Linux Mint over 17. And possibly doesn't work on Windows 10 either. It is an old printer. So now I have a new one. At least they're cheap. Of course installing it and getting all the functions working wasn't easy, but it wouldn't be Linux if it all worked out of the box (and who wants something that just works and doesn't let you tinker with it - where would the fun be in that?).

I've been very watching sport. And some other things, but mostly the sport. Wimbledon fortnight is like Christmas to tennis fans. Only better than Christmas because it lasts two weeks and the shops aren't closed.

Jo Konta was great. What gets me is less how good she is and more how calm she has become. 5 Live played a clip of her and Clare Balding where they were talking about her muffin making like it's tennis. Which was funny. I correctly predicted the men's single's finalists and therefore beat my sister at Fantasy Wimbledon.

Although the men's and ladies singles finals were more one-sided than expected, the doubles were good, as were the wheelchair doubles. Due to rain the men's wheelchair doubles were on at the same time as the ladies singles. So I had the singles on the TV with no sound, 5 Live on the radio, who were covering the singles and were two shots ahead of the TV, and had the wheelchair doubles on the computer with the sound turned down low.

And then Wimbledon was over. It was so hard going to work on Monday without being able to listen to the 5 Live commentary team chat about tennis while I work. The Para-Athletics World Championships helped, though. I have been enjoying that, although I record it all and start it late because athletics involves a lot of chat and a lot of re-running races, not to mention the adverts, and I can get three hours of it into one hour.

Today is the last day of it, but that's ok because the World Swimming Championships starts today. In fact it just started 15 minutes ago, but I am also recording that. After that there's a whole three days with no sport on (that I'm interested in) before the World Athletics Championships start. And I thought this summer would be quiet without the Olympics and Paralympics...

In other, non-sporting news, I got a new sofa last week! It's blue, making it the most colourful thing in my mainly brown/magnolia lounge. It's too tall for Missy to get at, but she thinks there is a way in, she just has to find it. Which means that every evening she climbs up me to get on it, runs about, digs a bit, chews a bit* and eventually slides off it without realising how high up she is, so I have to catch her.
*Yeah, it's not going to look new for long with Missy about

I also got new windows this week. The old ones had gaps between the window and the frame, so the new ones should keep the house warmer in the winter. But the old ones were wooden and it was windy and as a result there was wood dust everywhere. I had to clean the toilet before I could go the toilet. So I've spent most of this weekend cleaning. What with all the wood dust about I've had to hoover everything and wash everything. I ache, my knee hurts and I'm looking forward to going back to work for the rest. But it is so good to have everything so much cleaner than usual.

I haven't blogged for a while. Partly because I've been busy setting up my new computer (I'm going from a Windows laptop and Linux netbook to a Linux laptop, so there's a lot to do), partly because the weather recently has been too nice for computers and partly because my body hates me and has decided not to let me sleep in, so I am tired.

But I have changed my LJ layout. I found that the old one having a fixed width was a bit annoying some time ago and started on a new layout, but didn't finish it. Now I have a new computer the old width has gone from exactly filling my browser to a tiny thing in the centre (my resolution on this computer is ridiculous - and that's after I took it down from 3200x1600). The good thing about having not worked on the layout for a bit is that I've forgotten what it was I wanted to change. So I did a few bits and declared it done. Once I use it then I might find some other things I want to change. I want to change the DW layout too, because it's so very white when commenting, but it wasn't as simple, so I'll leave that for another day.

Ballet is back! Or will be, in a couple of weeks. I have missed it, although when I'm back in a boiling hot dance studio I might change my mind. The dance studio is on the south side of the building, with one wall of windows and is the only room in the building that doesn't have air conditioning. But this time of year it's light enough in the evenings that I can walk there, which is so much better for my leg muscles, if not for my hayfever. It does mean that in June I'll have three weeks in a row where I'm out three nights in a row, so how much else I'll get done in the meantime is another question. At least I have my weekends mostly free because….

Tennis! The French Open has started, which means that I can now tell you how many weeks it is to things, if not the date. I haven't watched any of it so far. The trouble with it is that it has adverts every time they change ends, which drives me mad. I could live with that if they didn't have Jim Courier commenting - he likes the sound of his own voice and makes it so hard to concentrate on the tennis. The best commentators find something pertinent to say that fits between serves, but he can't manage either of those. It feels like the points are just a pause between what he's saying. And to top it off, the cameramen like to swing round and zoom into the stadium, which makes me dizzy. So I pick my matches carefully.

I have, though, been listening to it on 5 Live Sports Extra, for the few matches they've broadcast. It was good to have tennis on while working. Although when Andy Murray was carrying on and losing a set I'd rather have been listening to Kyle Edmund, who managed to win in straight sets. Brits aside, it's looking like an interesting tournament, although I can't see how could possibly beat Nadal. I have the second Friday off and I'll have to decide what I want to do most: stay up for the election or watch the tennis.

First, I'm now going to Rock Choir this term. This is because ballet was cancelled for the term (long story), so I thought I'd replace it with Rock Choir. Whether I carry on after this term depends on what happens with choir, because I'd like to only go out two nights a week and having them both be choirs is a bit much. But I enjoyed this week more than last week. Partly because I knew what to expect, but I also ended up sitting at the back, rather than the front, which was a different experience. And it was less repetitive since we went over the song we learnt most of last week, then learnt the bits we'd skipped, which were the hard bits.

Then this weekend I bought a new computer. I was planning to because mine is very slow. There are websites, which if I want to visit them, I open them up, then go away and do something else while they load, it's that slow. But I was planning on getting it after Wimbledon, when things stop for summer. But I randomly checked on the one I wanted and it was a third off, so I got it. I am, in fact, typing this on it. Although in a terrible Firefox because I haven't copied over my settings yet, and the resolution on this computer means I keep having to zoom into websites. And that's after I dropped the resolution - it was originally 3200x1600 and I needed a magnifying glass to see anything.

And I had to install Linux twice because 500GB and 500MB are very hard to tell apart when it's written in bytes.

But those websites that took so long on my old computer open instantly on this one. Mind you, I don't have any add-ons in Firefox yet, slowing it down...

And then, for the first time ever, I picked up a pinch hit for Not Prime Time. I'd read been reading through the requests while sign ups for open and there were a few I liked the idea of writing for, one in particular I really wanted to write. The trouble with not having a deadline is that I don't prioritise writing and instead do the other 1001 things I need to do. So as much as I wanted to write a treat I knew it probably wasn't going to happen. But there wasn't anything I really wanted to receive. So I was very excited when I found the request I really liked was a pinch hit. It was the first time I've ever put in for one and now it's all mine!

I have some ideas, they're just percolating before I write it. The deadline I don't need to write down because it's the start of Wimbledon...

This weekend we managed to have a rare combination of nice weather, time and energy, so I could do gardening. Of all chores it's the most annoying because it always seems to be nice when I'm busy or don't have the energy, and as soon as it's a good time to garden it's blowing a gale or raining. But yesterday was good and my garden now has fewer weeds, which is always an improvement.

After that I spent the afternoon in the traditional manner of Sunday afternoons when it's nice weather: lazing around reading.

Missy is an idiot. She's an intelligent hamster, but useless at finding food. Hamsters are supposed to be good at finding food using their sense of smell, which is really good. She can't find food when it's right under her nose - she just looks in places where she's used to finding it. Then when she does find it, after I've hidden it among her toys, she sticks it in the sofa. I dread to think how much food is in there.

My hoover died, so I bought a new one. It took me forever to get it out of the box. I ended up having to open it at both ends, remove the vast amount of cardboard that wasn't doing anything (except preventing me from getting the hoover out) and then managed to pull it out. At one point I thought I was going to have to cut the box vertically. I piled the cardboard up, as I thought Missy would like something new to investigate. But she wasn't interested. She's quite keen on the hoover box, though.

My RSS feeds went from silence about LJ to lots of drama the past few days. I still much prefer commenting on LJ because the email notifications tell you the post title in the subject, unlike on Dreamwidth. But if anyone has strong feelings about preferring me to comment on DW rather than LJ*, let me know and I can change my RSS feed.

I've got out of the habit of quite a few things over the last few weeks. Work has been busy and I've been out a lot of week nights, so I haven't had energy to do anything at the weekends. So I have got out of the habit of blogging and fic writing and TV watching (evenings in involve playing with Missy).

But now I have a few weeks off going out for Easter (aside from a few nights) so hopefully I will get back into these habits.

But this weekend I've had energy, which has made a nice change. The weather being sunny and warm helps. I went swimming this morning - and purposely didn't do many lengths because I knew I had to come home and hoover.

I did manage to get my dw-guestfest done on time this year! Although it's not the fic I meant to write. I meant to write one that would fill a square on my Gen Prompt Bingo card and cross off a WIP from my list. Except when I opened it I realised I'd left a gap between the end of the previous Tenth Doctor & John Chesterton fic and the beginning of the this, so I wrote the bit that goes in between (this time without a Press Gang title*).

*Although a "write a fic for every Press Gang episode title" would be a good (if big) challenge.

I've been busy, no surprises there. But after being out three nights, playing with Missy when I've got back and not going to bed until late, then waking up annoyingly early on Friday, I ended up too tired to do anything yesterday (and Friday). So I did the two things I had to get done this weekend and then just read, watched some TV and dicked about on the internet. It was nice. I'm looking forward to two weeks time when I have four weeks off where I only go out twice on weekday nights. Of course I'm then busier at the weekends, but that's not nearly as tiring. Although on the nights I'm in Missy gets up after dinner (if I'm lucky, sometimes it's during) and that's my evening gone.

Although Missy hasn't forgotten about her desire to live in the sofa. She's just got more crafty about it. She doesn't fill her pouches up so much before attempting to run to the sofa and avoid me catching her. I have got similarly crafty and wait until she's busy stuffing her pouch (rather than chewing) and attempt to catch her. I am amazed what big pieces of cardboard she can fit in there. In her cage she absolutely stuffs her pouches full of bedding, so then I don't let her out. After a while she empties one and I still don't let her out. She gets to come out when both are empty. At some point in this process she throws a strop because I'm not letting her do what she wants.

It wasn't just tiredness that led to me not doing much yesterday - I've also hurt my feet, so I'm spending the weekend resting them. I think what I've been doing is wrapping my feet around the legs of my wheely chair at work (even though I have a footrest). And then I went to ballet, which finished them off. After standing up quite a lot at choir, I then attempted to limp on both feet on my way back to the car.

This week was half term, which meant I had nothing on in the evenings. I felt sure this would mean I'd be able to get lots of writing and TV watching done. On Monday I did some work on my hetswap fic and watched the earliest of the four Cats Countdown episodes on my PVR. And then it all went to pot.

Missy was ill. She's fine now, but she was sleeping a lot. So theoretically I had more time to get stuff done, but in reality I was too busy worrying about her. And being distracted by the internet.

And then once she was better I decided that I'd do some of the house cleaning in the evenings so I wouldn't have to do it all at the weekend. So between playing with her and cleaning that was my whole evening.

And then work was busy and I didn't have enough sleep so of course I then kept waking up before my alarm. And not much later today and yesterday. So even though I've had a quiet week, I am tired.

This week I'm out every night. But it's fine that I have four weeks of TV recorded, plus stuff from Christmas I haven't watched. And writing deadlines are for watching them whoosh by...

This week has been busy. I had one of those weeks where I was out Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday, Monday I went food shopping and Wednesday I played with Missy until I was struggling to keep my eyes closed. So Friday I watched TV and played with Missy and that was pretty much all I had the energy for.

I have three more of those weeks between now and Easter. But this week is half term, so I have nothing at all on any evening.

An I have my hetswap fic to write. I started late because I had Chocolate Box treats to finish. I now have three first drafts of my hetswap fic - I hope the third time is the charm because if I don't get it finished this week I'll be back to having no time to do it in.

And after that, no more exchanges for a bit. I want to be able to write for myself, talk about what I'm writing and not have to have this unbreakable deadline. And work on my WIPs. I have signed up for the Doctor Who Minor Characters Ficathon, but I am writing one of my WIPs for it and it's not the end of the world if I miss the deadline - as evidence by last year when I finished my fic about six months after the deadline.

2016 has been characterised by me getting ill every time I have some time off work and can get some things done. Christmas was no exception. Theoretically it's a cold, but I've had asthma for over a week, a cough for nearly two weeks and a blocked up nose for a week and a half. I only (ha!) felt really crap for most of a week.

As a result I spent Christmas Day and Boxing Day watching The West Wing and reading Yuletide (I got through a third of a series of The West Wing and most of the Yuletide archive I have any interest in). I'll post about Yuletide (what I got and what I wrote) in a separate post on another day. And post about all the other things I was thinking of posting about but didn't really have the energy to do.

I have seen one episode of The Grand Tour. It was funny, but laughing makes me cough, so I can't watch too much of it.

I have also read Five on Brexit Island and Five Go on a Strategy Away Day. The latter was funnier. They told me I remembered very little of the Famous Five (it has been a long time since I read any of it).

This week has been busy:
Monday I spent part of the evening sorting out sending out things I'd sold on eBay and Christmas presents to go overseas. All while Missy complained and carried on because I should have been playing with her. As soon as I'd finished she went for a nap.
Tuesday was Rotary Christmas dinner.
Wednesday was ballet.
Thursday I went shopping, and tried to get as much as possible that I might need this month so I don't have to go too much more.
Friday I left work and got to my car to see one of my tyres was flat. So I got home late after that.
Saturday I got up early to get my tyre fixed (driving on the spare is horrible). I spent the rest of the day alternating cleaning the house and working. In the evening I drove into the city.
Today is my day for relaxing, catching up on TV, catching up SGA Santa reading, since that's started posting this week. And maybe attempting to write some Yuletide Treats.

On Wednesday I sneezed and made my pulled muscle worse. And then on Friday it was suddenly so much better. At first I thought switching from paracetamol to ibuprofen had made the difference, but then it never got more painful after that.

I have had a busy weekend, getting lots of things done. I learnt that hoovering with my left hand hurts just as much as hoovering with my right, but hoovering with both was better. I went to the pet shop and wanted to take all the rabbits home. Especially one that came to see me when I spoke to them, and then licked the glass.

I bought Missy a toy that hangs up and has wooden things on it. It's the sort of wood she likes chewing, but she's spent most of her time with it on the string - she doesn't like hanging things, she always takes them down. It's safety pinned to the sofa, so it'll take her a little while as she can't spend the whole night working on it.

I got my Public Call fic done, which was just as well given that the deadline is this evening. I've also finished my Yuletide fic, for a given value of finished, given that I keep tinkering with it.

And I've started rewatching The West Wing. Since my pulled muscle means it hurts to laugh I had to find something that wasn't funny. And since I've been watching a lot of funny stuff on catch up, I keep using up my internet, so it had to be something I didn't need to stream. I've been wanting to rewatch The West Wing since I introduced my parents to it a few years ago and then caught an episode when I was home one weekend. I keep racing through it, partly because there's not a lot on at the moment, partly because I want to get to the bits I vaguely remember, but don't know when they are (and I am avoiding episode guides because I don't want to know in advance).

It was only after I started that I looked at my DVDs and thought that I should have considered The Bill - I have quite a few DVDs of half hour episodes from the 80s that I haven't watched. Or The Avengers - I have all the Emma Peel episodes and I've seen all the ones 'in color' but I can't remember which black & white ones I've seen. But now I've started The West Wing, I'll finish it first.

Of course this week has been tennis. I am disappointed that they won't show the doubles (of course) or the evening matches, and that Jamie and Bruno got knocked out in the semi-finals. But it is exciting that they're the number one doubles team this year. And Andy is the number one singles player this year. There's just the match in a couple of hours to decide who ends up number one in the rankings. I am hoping for a Murray victory of course, but I'd like either a decisive Murray win or a very close match with either winning. And come February there'll be another round of Murray vs Raonic when we play Canada (away) in the Davis Cup.

After being out four nights last week it was good to have a weekend in. Since then I've only been out of the house to go to Sainburys (and Tesco since Sainsburys never seem to have any bread). This is because I've pulled a muscle coughing. Something I've previously heard of, but didn't think could really happen. Nor did I realise how painful it is. I mean, the muscle hurts if you use it, obviously, and also if I touch it. But there are a lot of things you use it for, it turns out. It hurts if I turn over in bed, lie wrong in bed, get out of bed, sit wrong, yawn, blow my nose, cough, breathe too deeply, take my inhaler, reach up to anything (unless I use my left hand, which it turns out I don't do by default). In summary, pretty much everything. Which is why I'm writing this now and am not getting sweaty in a dance studio doing ballet.

The NHS website's advice on strained muscles is to rest it (tricky), elevate it (it probably is my default) and put ice on it (not fun in the winter, plus touching it hurts it). So, in summary, not a lot of use. Paracetemol helps, but as I already knew, it takes an hour to kick in, then only works for two hours, and you can only take it every four hours. I could take twice the amount, but experience with other painkillers tells me that it won't lessen the pain at all, but will make me feel sick. So I'm not going to try that.

On the plus side, it is definitely getting better. It feels more like an ordinary hurt than being stabbed. And I am getting better at not doing some of the things that make it hurt.

Of course the annoying thing is that it's fine sitting up in a chair at a computer, which means I can still work...